On September 1, 2023, the Feminist Anti-War Resistance, together with the Human Rights Defenders Fund, received the Aachen Peace Prize.

The Aachen Peace Prize is a civil initiative established in 1988. Every year, the award is given to two individuals or organizations. Among its previous laureates are: the Soldiers’ Mothers of St. Petersburg (Russia), Women in Black (Israel), Code Pink (USA), Kurdish human rights defender Leyla Zana, and many others.

The Human Rights Defenders Fund is an Israeli organization founded in 2011 that protects the rights of civil activists persecuted by the Israeli government for their work.

The declaration of the prize states:

“We want to honor and make visible women, men, or groups who, at the grassroots level, have contributed to mutual understanding among people, to dismantling enemy stereotypes, and to building trust. We wish to honor people regardless of ideological, religious, or political affiliation and irrespective of their social or national background. We wish to honor them when they bring peace through a sense of justice, humanity, and compassion (even toward enemies); through nonviolence, civic courage, energy, objectivity, and heart.”

Members of the prize’s organizing committee, despite their pacifist stance, do not share the popular German slogan “Frieden schaffen ohne Waffen!” (“Achieve peace without weapons!”). In one interview, Dieter Spoo, a member of the committee, reflected on arms supplies and Germany’s position: “By supplying weapons to Ukraine, we are, of course, prolonging the war. But this war was forced upon the country. If we did not prolong it, Ukraine would cease to exist. That cannot be allowed.”

Benedikt Kalles, another member of the committee, agreed: “Even as a pacifist, I recognize the right to self-defense and understand Ukraine’s desire for arms deliveries.”

During the award ceremony, members and activists of the Feminist Anti-War Resistance appeared with their faces covered, in solidarity with anonymous activists of the movement currently in Russia. About twenty people went on stage, while behind them a screen showed Russian activists who could not attend the ceremony in person and appeared masked online.
Thus, FAR emphasized that our movement exists thanks to those who remain inside the Russian dictatorship and continue the struggle.

We dedicate this award to Russian women persecuted for their anti-war stance. The monetary part of the prize was donated by FAR to one Ukrainian feminist organization and one Russian initiative supporting political prisoners.

Our speech was written collectively and through an open call, since FAR is a horizontal movement.

Text of the FAR Speech for the Aachen Peace Prize on September 1, 2023

First we would like to thank the Aachen Peace Prize committee for the award and for expressing their invaluable support and solidarity with our activists. We are honored to receive this award together with the Human Rights Defenders Fund (Israel), who are fighting for the rights of women activists under constant threat from their government.

Today we do not show our faces because being here is not only an honor, but also a great privilege and responsibility. Most of our colleagues are in Russia and cannot reveal their faces and names without the risk of being imprisoned or tortured by Russian security forces.

We are receiving this award while there is a war going on and our state is bombing Ukraine every day, while the Ukrainian army and civilians are heroically resisting this unprovoked aggression.

We receive this award while our fellow women continue their struggle in Russia – our movement exists because of their courage and resistance to the Russian regime.

War is a continuation of patriarchal violence, one of its extreme manifestations, which always affects the most vulnerable and unprotected.

War means millions of people forced to leave their homes, thousands of Ukrainian women wounded, killed and tortured by the Russian military. Forcibly displaced to Russia, Ukrainians live in inhumane conditions, with no support from anyone but their relatives and volunteers, and are under constant pressure from the Russian state. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being held captive by the Russian
military and nothing is known about their fate. Thousands of Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by Russia.

We often repeat: “War begins at home”. Domestic violence, violence against women, children and the elderly – all of this violence has been encouraged and nurtured by the Russian state for years. It has long ago spilled out of our homes and transcended national borders. All kinds of violence are connected – and they must all be stopped. War begins at home and it must end at home. Because it feeds on violence within our society. That is why feminism is an inseparable part of the resistance to war.

Women in Russia are already facing violence at the hands of soldiers returning from war. Many prisoners who served time in prison for violent crimes have been mobilized, have already returned from the war and are walking free, having received pardons and medals for all their war crimes. Russia is increasingly adopting discriminatory laws that violate human rights. In particular, laws that make life unbearable for LGBTQ+ people in Russia such as the new law prohibiting gender affirmative procedures and changing the gender marker on documents. Thousands of indigenous people continue to live under Russian occupation, and those who try to fight for their rights face systematic repression. Peace is not limited to a ceasefire. We want peace not only without overt military violence, but also without structural violence. Such a peace also requires the full inclusion of representatives of vulnerable groups in any pre-negotiation processes and peacemaking. Such a peace requires active struggle and cannot be fooled by a mere ceasefire.

We call ourselves the Feminist Anti-War Resistance, however we are keenly aware that “anti-war” is not about privileged pacifism, but about recognizing the right of the injured party to self-defense. Ukrainian women cannot say “no to war” when the war that has already come to their home. They cannot say “this is not our war”. They are forced to defend themselves and their homes and loved ones – often at the
cost of their lives.

We want to be understood correctly: “anti-war” in our case is not the idle waiting for an abstract peace to come when one side runs out of resources. “Anti-war” is a daily resistance to the aggressor and his military and imperial ambitions. Resistance including thousands of women, queer people, activists and feminists. And this award belongs to them.

As long as Putin and this regime exist in Russia, there will be no peace. As long as people and territories are under occupation, there will be no peace. There can be no peace when political prisoners are imprisoned and activists who have fled the country cannot return home safely. Such “peace” does not take into account the rights of vast numbers of vulnerable people. We want peace, but we want a just peace, without occupied territories, without slavery and torture, without prisons and exploitation, without dictatorships, without silencing violence in any form.

We would like to dedicate this award to Russian women and LGBTQ+ people who have been prosecuted for their anti-war actions, identity and views, who are in pre-trial detention centers and prisons. Activists who have survived searches and torture, faced violence for anti-war agitation and for helping Ukrainians. These are not only activists of our movement – these are thousands of stories of resistance to Russian fascism,
stories of schoolgirls and pensioners alike. We dedicate this award to Maria Ponomarenko, Sasha Skochilenko, Natalia Filonova, Tatiana Savinkina, Marina Novikova, Victoria Petrova, Masha Moskalyova and all those whom we are unable to name today for safety reasons.

We will donate the cash equivalent of this prize to a Ukrainian feminist organization and to a Russian initiative helping political prisoners. We express our support and solidarity to Ukrainians in their struggle for freedom. Thank you.

To continue our work, we need your support!
In 2024, the Russian authorities declared us an “undesirable organization.” This means that people in Russia are now prohibited from sharing our materials and donating to us. If what we do matters to you and you want to support us, you can subscribe to our Patreon.

Related posts:

“War Begins at Home”: A Brochure about FAR ‘I suppose I just wanted someone to know what I was thinking before I died’: an interview with Nastya Travkina Protest Against the Invitation of the Russian Delegation to the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament and The Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament